Technology News South Africa

Introducing the augmented reality wall calendar

Siemens South Africa has made great strides in the products and services it offers by incorporating digitalisation across its technology value chain. In order to better explain these processes in a way which combines engineering excellence and innovation, the company has developed an augmented reality (AR) app to accompany its annual wall calendar.

“On the back of launching the Siemens brand campaign Ingenuity for Life in 2016, we wanted to take our traditional wall calendar and create an immersive experience for our customers to communicate our broad product offering in an innovative way,” explains Keshin Govender, head of corporate communications at Siemens South Africa.

AR is a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input such as 3D animation, sound, video or graphics. Siemens adapted this technology into a mobile application allowing users to experience augmented reality from their smartphones and tablets.

'Storydoing', not just storytelling

“Not only is the Siemens CalendAR app a unique way to engage with our customers but it also reflects the digitalisation of our world and the role our company plays. Effective marketing is finding ways to talk about your company, illustrating what you do. It’s about ‘storydoing’ and not just storytelling. For us, that means using technology and innovation in a way that resonates with our customers,” says Govender.

The app can be downloaded from Apple and Google Play stores for free. Once the app has been downloaded, users can point their smart device at each calendar month’s image which comes to life via 3D animated wireframes. There is also video and scrollable infographic styled content linked to each month for the users to engage with. Each month, new content is unlocked as the app updates.

For more, go to www.siemens.co.za/calendar.

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